merpins wrote: »

Arcanist is fine. If any skill in the class needs attention, it's Flail, since it's a super loaded skill that also generates Crux and makes the class' cleave potential super high. If Zos removed the ink from that skill and shoved it onto Runeblades, maybe even the execute as well, I think it would really make Arcanist mains think about their setups more, and balance out the powerful nature of its current rotation.

I agree that flail is overloaded but I don't agree that this is what makes arcanist's cleave potential super high. The main reason why arcanist cleave potential is that high is beam. Languid Eye is also the strongest AoE ultimate in the game when it comes to DPS.

Flail on arcanist does similar DPS to blockade with maesltrom destro which is around 8-10%. If ZoS would remove ink and execute from Abyssal ink and move it into Runeblades than arcanist would still have over 90% of his current cleave potential and would have his single target DPS buffed making it even stronger than it is already.

There is far more issues with arcanist than just Flail.

merpins wrote: »

Galeriano wrote: »

merpins wrote: »

Arcanist is fine. If any skill in the class needs attention, it's Flail, since it's a super loaded skill that also generates Crux and makes the class' cleave potential super high. If Zos removed the ink from that skill and shoved it onto Runeblades, maybe even the execute as well, I think it would really make Arcanist mains think about their setups more, and balance out the powerful nature of its current rotation.

I agree that flail is overloaded but I don't agree that this is what makes arcanist's cleave potential super high. The main reason why arcanist cleave potential is that high is beam. Languid Eye is also the strongest AoE ultimate in the game when it comes to DPS.

Flail on arcanist does similar DPS to blockade with maesltrom destro which is around 8-10%. If ZoS would remove ink and execute from Abyssal ink and move it into Runeblades than arcanist would still have over 90% of his current cleave potential and would have his single target DPS buffed making it even stronger than it is already.

There is far more issues with arcanist than just Flail.

So there's an item in ESO that's mandatory to run on Arcanist, otherwise your damage potential is sub par. Velothi-Ur amulet, a 15% increase to the class' damage that makes up for it not being able to get as much effectiveness from LA weaving, is what makes beam as strong as it is. If beam got nerfed from where it is now (damage wise), it'll just kill the class. If you remove Velothi-Ur, it would probably also make the class much less desirable to play. It's a hard balancing act here; Arcanist has to build up a resource before it can use beam, and when it does use beam, it can't LA weave so it loses out on a very important damage source. The damage of beam must be high enough to make up for that, and any nerfs that come to the class that aren't super thoughtful in their execution will just kill the class. As we all know, Zos isn't exactly an expert when it comes to the thoughtful execution of balance changes.

The problem isn't the class skills, but the itemization the class has access to. However its support is still overtuned, and so is flail specifically.

Every class uses velothi right now. It's the strongest mythic atm. Every class without that mythic deals less dmg than with it. it's not some arcanist exclusive thing. Yes it buffs arcanist a bit more than other classes but not that much more since light attack DPS was systematically nerfed bys ZoS with changes to maesltrom destro, empower, weapon attack scaling and so on, so current base light attack DPS is just low and is no longer as "important dmg source" as it used to be, which is one of the reasons why everyone runs with velothi or with in less ottimised setups with oakensoul.

Arcanist with mythics different than Velothi still gets more DPS than other classes with the same mythics. Arcanist is just stronger than other classes. Beam dmg is one of the reasons for it because beam deals noticably more DPS than other classes deal with la+ability in the same time while light attack rotations require also more skill, timing and sustain. Nerfing beam is far from killing arcanist, the best evidence for it is Necrom PTS cycle where people were able to get similar DPS with no beam rotation as with beam rotation. Beam rotation just got more popular because of its easier usage, more flexibility and more AoE dmg. Rotation with for example tentacular dread could easily replace rotation with beam and it would be more balanced since it wouldn't have as much passive AoE in it.

Arcanist skills especially beam are causing the issues with itemization. For example arcanist is the easiest class to maintain Coral Riptide high wep/spell dmg bonus since beam cost is so noticably lower than using regular abilities that You can safely stay at low stamina percentages. Another issue with beam is how well it synergizes with Azureblight set since beam is considered a DoT so it adds 3+ stacks of Azureblight every second. It's especially ironic considering that ZoS nerfed templar's jabs to not synergize with that set considering that synergy too strong but the same synergy with even stronger ability on arcanist is now somehow fine. Another set that strongly synergizes with beam is Deadly Strike. Fact that beam is responsible for such high amount of arcanist DPS is the root of many issues with the class.

Seeing how in almost every trial on ESO logs, wheter it's HM, veteran or normal mode, arcanist makes up for half of overall DD population and also noticable portion of healers and tanks, it's basically a neccesary thing to make arcanist "much less desirable to play". Arcanist dominated group play to the extent no other class have ever did.